Sultan and Shepard (stylized as Sultan + Shepard) are a Canadian

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...

duo who frequently collaborate in record production,

songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

, and remixing.

Biography

Background

Sultan, born Ossama Al Sarraf, lived in

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

, and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

, before moving to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

in 1996 to study mechanical engineering and business at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

. While there, he became immersed in Montreal nightlife and the house scene. A series of gigs

DJing A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

led to the release of his first track, "Primal Instinct". Sultan was signed to Chug Records in 2001. In 2004, he starred in the documentary '' Being Osama'' which detailed his Christian Palestinian roots. In 2002, Ned Shepard, also a student at McGill DJing in Montreal, gave Sultan a demo CD of music he had been working on. Sultan called Shepard the following morning and expressed an interest in producing together.

Career

In 2008, Sultan + Shepard formed Harem Records to release their music. Their singles include "Walls" featuring Quilla, " No Good" with Fedde Le Grand, "In the Air" with

Morgan Page Morgan Wolf Page (born May 31, 1981) is an American DJ and music producer. His tracks include "The Longest Road", "Fight for You" and "In the Air". Page has received two Grammy Award nominations; a personal nomination for best remix with Nadia ...

and BT, "When We Were Young" with

Dillon Francis Dillon Hart Francis (born October 5, 1987), also known by the stage name DJ Hanzel, is an American electronic music producer and DJ. Early life Francis was born in Los AngelesAhmed, Insanul (March 13, 2012Who Is Dillon Francis?Complex. Retri ...

, and "Make Things Right" featuring

Tegan & Sara Tegan and Sara () are a Canadian indie pop duo formed in 1998 in Calgary, Alberta. The band is led by identical twin sisters Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin (born September 19, 1980). Both musicians are songwriters and multi-instrumental ...

. In July 2018 they announced their upcoming debut artist album, slated for release in 2019. They co-wrote and co-produced the 2014

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...

song " Bad", co-wrote "Drove Me Wild" by

from their 2013 album ''

Heartthrob Heartthrob or Heart Throb may refer to: * "Heart Throb" (''The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!''), a live-action episode of ''The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!'' * "Heartthrob" (''Angel''), an episode of the American television show ''Angel'' * '' ...

'', and have collaborated with

Tiësto Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( ), is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted "the Greatest DJ of All Time" by '' Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, he was v ...

Junior Sanchez Eugenio Sanchez Jr., commonly known by his stage name Junior Sanchez, is an American record producer, DJ, artist, re-mixer and record executive from New Jersey. Early life Junior Sanchez was born in New Jersey, on May 4, 1977, and raised in the ...

The Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, ...

, Vassy, and Nadia Ali. They were nominated for a 2013

Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical The Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical is an honor presented to producers for quality remixed recordings at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in seve ...

for their remix of "

Locked Out of Heaven "Locked Out of Heaven" is a song by American singer and songwriter Bruno Mars from his second studio album, ''Unorthodox Jukebox'' (2012). It was released as the lead single from the album on October 1, 2012. The song was written by Mars, Phil ...

" by

Bruno Mars Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), known professionally as Bruno Mars, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is known for his stage performances, retro showmanship, and for performing in a wide range of musical ...

. They were nominated for a 2018

Juno Award for Dance Recording of the Year The Juno Award for "Dance Recording of the Year" has been awarded since 1990, as recognition each year for the best dance music recording by an artist from Canada. Due to the relatively single-oriented nature of the dance genre, the award is most c ...

for their song "Almost Home" featuring Nadia Ali and IRO. Shepard cites Brian Eno,

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwor ...

The Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers (along with the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, and other acts) in bringing the big beat gen ...

, Faithless, and

Sasha & John Digweed Sasha & John Digweed are a British DJ duo comprising Sasha and John Digweed. Digweed had been DJing for ten years before getting a gig at Renaissance where he met Sasha, who had been working the past few years in various acid house music club ...

among his major inspirations. Sultan cites the same artists as well as Daft Punk and Deep Dish.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

Production discography

* ''

Embers ''Embers'' is a radio play by Samuel Beckett. It was written in English in 1957. First broadcast on the BBC Third Programme on 24 June 1959, the play won the RAI prize at the Prix Italia awards later that year. Donald McWhinnie directed Jack ...

'', Nadia Ali (2009) * " Bad",

Showtek Showtek is a Dutch electronic dance music duo consisting of two brothers from Eindhoven, Sjoerd (born 6 April 1984) and Wouter Janssen (born 20 August 1982). The duo regularly manages to reach the top of multiple music charts and work with artis ...

(2014)

Remixes

All remixes listed have been released on the respective song's official remix EP unless noted otherwise.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sultan & Shepard Electronic dance music duos House music duos Canadian house music groups Living people Musical groups from Montreal Record production duos Remixers Songwriting teams Progressive house musicians Musical groups established in 2002 2002 establishments in Quebec Year of birth missing (living people)